After thousands
of years of recorded history, we’re just now arriving at a point where women
are starting to receive fair and equal treatment in many societies. It’s an
irrefutable historical fact that some of the major sources of this unsolicited
oppression were drawn from references of women’s treatment in the Old and New
Testaments. This chapter will show that the Bible takes a clear and undeniable
stance in its advocation for the unequal treatment of women. Furthermore, I
will prove that the authors of the Bible intended for women to play the role of
a man’s servant from birth until death. I will consistently and successfully
defend this position using the words of God, allegedly speaking through Moses.
Through this demonstration, I hope you will see that the incredibly dishonest
teachings of Moses arose from an earthly source inferior to an omniscient
deity. Subsequent works of Paul and his peers show only how gullible they were
in so readily accepting the Old Testament scriptures as fact.

After reading this chapter, I hope you
will have a greater awareness of how the Bible instructs men to treat women.
More importantly, I hope you will appreciate the lack of divine inspiration
behind such commands encouraging this mistreatment. The only alternative is to
conclude, yet again, that a deity with desires this immoral is clearly not
worthy of observance.

The Rules
Of Marriage

Let’s start our analysis at the
“beginning.” Everyone has heard the story of God becoming angry with Adam and
Eve for eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Although God punishes
both for disobeying his directions, the author clearly places the majority of
the blame on Eve for tempting her husband. God says to Eve, “thy desire is to
be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (Genesis 3:16). Since the other suppressing
punishments on the couple, such as Eve’s childbirth pains, are still in effect,
we have no justifiable reason to think that the servitude punishment applies
solely to Eve and not the gender as a whole. If the Bible is the true word of
God, this passage demonstrates his desire for women to live life in
subservience to men. In actuality, however, someone most likely invented this
portion of the patently unreliable story as a justification for the ongoing
inferior treatment of women.

Chapter 21 of Exodus provides us with some
very detailed instructions from God on women and marriage. For example, in the
instance that a father sells his
daughter to another man who is not pleased with her, she must be redeemed.
Regardless of the amount of satisfaction that the girl provides for the man,
God’s rules still allow him to acquire another wife. If he so chooses, the
first wife is not allowed to leave unless her master refuses her food,
clothing, or other marriage duties (Exodus 21:7-11). These words would later
serve as justification for men, such as King David, who had hundreds of wives
and concubines. We’ve also learned in this passage that women are to be sold as
slaves and treated as sex objects. If you dislike this conclusion and still
believe the Bible to be the divinely inspired word of God, you must either
unwillingly follow God’s derogatory and dehumanizing orders or take an opposing
position against the almighty.

The demoralizing instructions for daughter
selling aren’t the only rules of marriage that God sanctions. If a man decides
he no longer wants to be married to his wife, he can attempt to have her killed
by claiming that she lost her virginity prior to their marriage. Following this
accusation, the woman must then provide sufficient physical evidence, such as a
bloodstain, to demonstrate that his accusations are fraudulent. In the event
that she fails to prove her innocence of this “crime,” she is to be stoned to
death because of this utmost act of disgrace. Guilty until proven innocent is
the law within God’s court. Any woman who accidentally tears her hymen due to
an injury or other non-sexual act is simply out of luck because she could never
prove her virginity. Thus, she would be at the mercy of her husband throughout
her entire life. If evidence is produced to exonerate the woman in question,
the accuser is fined a couple pounds of silver and forced to stay married until
death (Deuteronomy 22:13-21). In this case, what does the man really have to
lose?

Some rules following the death of a man
are relevant to his wife’s well-being. According to the rules of Moses, the
deceased father’s inheritance goes entirely to his sons. If he has no son, it
goes to the daughters. After that, the inheritance should go to the closest
male relatives (Numbers 27:8-11). Not only do the boys of the household have
priority over the girls, the wife is also noticeably absent from the will.
Instead, God’s law forces her to marry her husband’s brother, provided she
doesn’t already have a son with her former husband. However, the brother-in-law
has the right to refuse the marriage; the woman does not (Deuteronomy 25:5-9).

Menstruation is a natural occurrence in
the lives of most women. However, the God of the Pentateuch despises this biologically
necessary bodily process and gives instructions on how to deal with these
treacherous circumstances. During menstruation, God deems the woman unclean. No
one shall have any contact with her for seven days or until the bleeding stops.
God deems anyone or anything she touches unclean. If she touches another
person, God deems that person unclean
until he bathes. In fact, the same goes for anyone who touches something that she previously touched (Leviticus 15:19-30). All this uncleanliness is
resolved by needlessly killing two doves. Admittedly, there are similar laws
for male ejaculation, but men can actually suppress these events to some
extent.

Childbirth is another natural event that
God deems foul. If a woman gives birth to a boy, she will be unclean for seven
days while she undergoes the same ritual for her menstrual period. She must
then be purified for thirty-three days and barred from entering worship during
this time. If she produces a girl, the sentence of solitary confinement is
doubled to fourteen and sixty-six days, respectively (Leviticus 12:1-5). In
addition to God unfairly designating women as filthy individuals following
childbirth, this passage heavily insinuates that girls are dirtier than boys
because it punishes a woman more harshly for giving birth to a female child.

Woman’s
Darkest Hour

Rape, the paramount fear of many women,
rears its ugly head in the Bible as well. Fortunately, God ensures that the
authors list it as a crime under a few circumstances. Unfortunately, God permits
the sexual violation of women on more than one occasion. More unfortunately,
the fine for committing one of the most heinous acts known to man without God’s
permission is only a pound of silver to her father and a forced marriage to the
victim if she’s not already engaged or married (Deuteronomy 22:28-29). Yes,
God’s idea of justice for the female victim is to be horrendously punished again by forcing her to marry the man
who savagely attacked her. This disgusting rule is nowhere near what most
people would consider an ethical resolution, and it’s certainly not a decision
rendered by any court I’d like to be facing.

If a man rapes an engaged virgin who
doesn’t cry loud enough to draw attention, the community should consider the
attack consensual if it took place within the city. Thus, the whore must be
stoned to death per God’s instructions. It obviously doesn’t matter if the
woman is too scared to scream because the law makes no such exception. The man
will be stoned to death as well, not because he committed a brutal atrocity
against the woman, but only because he “violated another man’s wife”
(Deuteronomy 22:24). Note
the shamefully sharp contrast in disciplinary action between raping a woman
with a husband and raping a woman without a husband: death versus a pound of
silver. Since it’s all the same to the woman, it now becomes clear that God
feels the husband is the one who is
the victim of the attack.

As I previously mentioned, the Bible
regrettably provides some situations in which rape is entirely permissible,
even encouraged, by the Hebrew god. Recall the rule of marriage specifying how
a man can force his daughter to marry and sleep with another man. This in
itself is completely reprehensible and rises to the level of rape if the woman
is unwilling, but the outlook for women only worsens as we continue our
reading.

In the matter of Moses’ war victory over
the Midianites, God had previously commanded him to build an army and defeat
the enemy. After successful completion of this task, his army takes thousands
of war prisoners. Moses then orders his army to kill the remaining men, boys,
and women who have already slept with a man, “but all the women children, that
have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves” (Numbers
31:17-18). If taking a human war trophy based solely on the prisoner’s gender
and sexual status isn’t implied permission to commit rape, I honestly don’t
know what is. Even God receives thirty-two virgins as his share of the spoils,
but they’re handed over to the priest for obvious reasons (Numbers 31:40-41).

The “women children” mentioned in the
passage certainly included young girls. Some female inhabitants of the city had
to have been several years away from entering puberty, but don’t pretend these
barbaric savages capable of killing defenseless women thought twice about
waiting a few years for the girls to mature. Well, what eventually becomes of
these foreign women kidnapped in battle?

When thou goest forth to war against
thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and
thou hast taken them captive, And seest among the captives a beautiful woman,
and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; Then thou
shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her
nails; And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall
remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and
after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall by thy
wife. And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her
go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt
not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her. (Deuteronomy
21:10-14).

More Old
Testament Atrocities

One other mistreatment by omission should
come to mind upon completion of reading the Pentateuch: the failure to mention
the explicit impermissibility of sexual relations between fathers and
daughters. The only such instance that comes to mind is the record of Lot’s
daughters getting him drunk to become pregnant by him (Genesis 19:30-38).
However, the author tells the story using disturbingly tranquil commentary. Had
God considered this a reprehensible act, one would assume that it would be noted
in some way for its distastefulness. In fact, Moses provides a long list of
people with whom we are not to have sexual contact in Leviticus 20:10-21, but
noticeably absent from this list is the debauchery of a father with his
daughter. We also know from previous analyses that daughters are the sole
property of their fathers. Finally, we can safely assume that these
father-daughter relationships existed thousands of years ago, as they secretly
do now. The omission of this regulation can only lead to the conclusion that it
was permissible, or at least somewhat condonable, for a father to rape his
daughters.

The historical books, Joshua through
Esther, begin the popular trend of multiple-wife lifestyles. Among those who
have several wives and/or concubines are Gideon, Elkanah, David, Rehoboam,
Abijah, and Solomon, who I believe is the winner with 700 wives and 300
concubines. Even so, divinely inspired biblical authors wholeheartedly claim
that God looks upon these men favorably. Would we expect God to view these
individuals in a positive light if this lifestyle was displeasing to the
almighty?

We find several more cruelties perpetrated
against women in these historical books. Such atrocities include a woman given
away as a prize (Judges 1:12-13); a woman offered as a sacrifice (Judges
11:29-39); married daughters given to other people (Judges 15:2); rape, murder,
and mutilation by a mob; (Judges 19:22-30); abduction of virgins (Judges
21:7-23); purchasing of wives (Ruth 4:10 and 1 Samuel 18:25-27); and God
punishing David by allowing his son to sleep with his wives and concubines, an
act for which the women were later imprisoned (2 Samuel 12:11-12, 16:22, 20:3).

If you read the book of Proverbs, you will
find more sayings than I care to list that reiterate how women can be evil,
strange, adulterous, foolish, contentious, etc. The book concludes with an
observation on the rarity of a virtuous woman. According to the author, if you
find one such woman, she’s worth far more than rubies (Proverbs 31:10). Enlightened
readers, on the other hand, should quickly realize that all humans are more valuable than material possessions, regardless
of their sex, color, or creed.

The books of prophecy, Isaiah through
Malachi, have the most vivid images of God tormenting women. Some examples of
God’s actions not previously covered include the giving away of people’s wives
(Jeremiah 8:10), justifying a woman being raped (Jeremiah 13:22), making men
“become as women” (Jeremiah 50:37), denouncing menstruation (Ezekiel 18:6), telling
Hosea to acquire a wife that he knew would be purchased (Hosea 3:1-2), aborting
children in their mothers’ wombs (Hosea 9:11-12 and 13:16), ridiculing an army
by labeling them women (Nahum 3:13), and taking part in a war concluding with
women being raped (Zechariah 11:4). Again, I don’t feel there’s any reason to
worry over such matters because none of this will ever happen due to direct
intervention by the fictitious version of God depicted in the Old Testament.

New
Testament Atrocities

The outlook doesn’t substantially improve
for women in the New Testament either. The author of Ephesians insists that
wives should submit to their husbands in everything
(5:22-24). While it’s true that the author later instructs men to love their
wives and treat them well, what does a devout Christian woman do when her
husband decides to break the bounds of his instructions by asking her to
embrace something she knows is evil? Remember, the woman has no right to
divorce the man. In addition, the author fails to mention the existence of any
out clause for her in such a situation. It would appear as though she has no
choice but to comply with his orders if she is to obey the words in the
scripture.

The authors of Colossians, Titus, and 1
Peter all agree that women should submit to their husbands (3:18, 2:5, and 3:1,
respectively). The books of Peter also forbid women to wear any type of
decorative jewelry to adorn their bodies (1 Peter 3:2-6), refer to women as the
weaker vessel of the couple (1 Peter 3:7), and deem Lot to be a righteous man
even though he once offered his daughters as a suitable alternative for
homosexual rapists surrounding his house (2 Peter 2:8 referring to Genesis
19:4-8). A man with the immoral qualities of Lot cannot be regarded as
righteous unless you discount the inherent rights of all people, more
specifically, the inherent rights of women.

The author of Timothy also follows suit
with his bigoted opinions of women. Like Peter, he says that females shouldn’t
wear decoration or try to usurp authority over their husbands. Instead, women
should remain silent and fully submissive to them. As he also declares that
Adam was not the one who was deceived in the Garden of Eden, Eve is clearly the
party implicated as being responsible for the downfall of man (1 Timothy
2:9-15). This author isn’t particularly kind to widows either. He says we
should leave these women in need because their rewards will arrive as an answer
to prayer. A widow experiencing pleasure while she’s still alive, on the other
hand, is already dead in the afterlife. In the author’s eyes, the only
respectable widows are at least sixty years old, have had only one husband, and
have been well known for their positive accomplishments in life. In contrast,
younger widows aren’t worth assisting because they eventually remarry, become
idle, or venture from house to house with their gossip (1 Timothy 5:5-15).

As we discussed near the beginning of this
book, Paul is no doubt the single most important figure in getting Christianity
to where it is today. Unfortunately, he is also one of the most sexist people
you’ll find in the New Testament. Paul is very adamant in his belief that women
aren’t useful for much more than sexually satisfying their husbands. He even
remarks that it’s good for a man to refrain from touching a woman, but he
realizes the need for a man to have sexual contact and permits each to have a
wife (1 Corinthians 7:1-2).

Paul also tells a story in his letter to
the Romans about men “leaving the ‘natural use’ of the woman” to have sexual
relations with other men (Romans 1:27). The passage is more or less saying that
the natural use of a woman is to function as a derogatory sexual outlet for a
man. He continues to spread his bigoted beliefs in a letter to the Corinthians
by unambiguously declaring the man to be the head of the woman, similar to the
way that Jesus is the authority figure for men. Paul also says women, who are
the glory of men, were made for men, who are the glory of God (1 Corinthians
11:3-9). The clearly implied chain of importance goes Christ first, man second,
and woman last.

Paul also establishes a few ground rules
before the men can bring their women to church. The women are to choose between
concealing their heads and having their hair completely shaven. Later, Paul
takes away the latter choice by declaring a shaved head to be a disgrace in
need of covering (1 Corinthians 11:5-7). He also doesn’t permit women to speak
in church because that also is a shame. If they have a question concerning the
material, they must ask their husbands at home. Paul also reminds us once
again, “they are commanded to be under obedience” according to the law (1
Corinthians 14:34-35). If you ever attend a Southern Baptist church, you will
notice that its members tend to remain clung to these values in some fashion.
Unfortunately, some ultra-conservative members continue to take these biblical
guidelines into their homes.

Are Women
Equal To Men?

Dozens more examples of cruelty to women exist
throughout the Bible, but I feel this will be sufficient in making my case.
Women had suffered terribly for thousands of years because of what men, not any god, wrote in the Bible. To
some extent, women still endure coarse treatment stemming from their own
religious beliefs and those observed by their husbands. I hope you realize that
the authors of the Pentateuch were not divinely inspired to write declarations
of women as the sole property of men. Instead, the books should once again read
as though some group is depending upon the gullibility of the people to serve
their own desires. In essence, the Old Testament authors misled the New
Testament authors into believing that they actually recorded the “wonderful”
and “loving” God’s authentic orders. Not knowing any other society than the one
in which they were raised, the New Testament authors felt compelled to endorse
these regulations.

Many Christians
continue to adhere to these cruel, senseless, and morally bankrupt codes, but
most have illogically reasoned their way out of following God’s eternal
commands. Many Christians have declared that the Old Testament regulations died
when Jesus arrived, but three key verses can once again tell us that this
simply isn’t a valid deduction. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law,
or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:7). “For verily I say unto you,
Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from
the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18). “And it is easier for heaven
and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail” (Luke 16:17). Furthermore,
as the New Testament instructions postdate Jesus’ life, the failed suggestion
doesn’t even attempt to resolve the problems created by New Testament authors.
Even if we allow the repeal of these old traditions, does this act justify
centuries of biblical oppression? For the reasons presented in this chapter, I
urge all men to use their intrinsic common decency, not the Bible, when
deciding how to treat a woman.